I’ve lately had a hankerin’ for some more time in World of Warcraft (WoW). So a few nights ago I went to the WoW Web site to restart my account.

I typed in my information, clicked Continue, and got nothing. The same page just reloaded with the information fields blank. So I typed everything in again, clicked Continue, and got nothing again. Well that was aggravating. Oh well, I gave up.

Then tonight (August 5) I had the urge strike again to go into WoW. I went to the Web site again.

I typed in my information, clicked Continue, and got nothing. The same page just reloaded with the information fields blank. So I typed everything in again, clicked Continue, and got nothing again.

I grabbed the phone and called the WoW customer service line. Customer service is closed Sunday evenings.

I stared at the computer screen for a minute, thinking, they sure make it hard. I wondered if upper/lowercase makes a different in the fields. I hit the caps lock key and retyped in my information again. Clicking Continue worked this time. My account was reopened and I was ready to start up the game.

I found the game icon in my files, and started it up. The auto-launcher opened and had to download some updates—it’s been a few months since I last played, so I expected there might be an update. The update downloaded and automatically restarted the game. Then the launcher had to download another update. The update downloaded and automatically restarted the game. Then the launcher had to download another update. Oh come on! The update downloaded and automatically restarted the game.

This time, though, I actually got the game screen, not just the launcher. I had to accept the license agreements for the updates, and then I finally made it to the login screen. I typed in my name and password, and clicked Login. My whole computer locked up. I waited a few minutes to see if it would unlock on its own, but no luck. I had to turn off my whole computer (losing the blog post I was writing in the process—so I wrote this one instead).

The computer came back up, and before I started WoW again, I started writing this post. And I saved it at this point before I went any further with WoW, just in case things locked up again.

I logged into WoW. Well, it didn’t lock up this time. I made it past log in. But then the application started downloading a patch for the game.

So far it’d taken about thirty minutes of my time, and I wasn’t in the game yet.

The software downloaded, and then automatically started updating. Once the update was complete, the launcher restarted—I was losing ground. And then began another download. And then automatically started updating again.

Then the launcher restarted, stopped, and restarted again. Then restarted again. I clicked the Play button, and it took me to the game login screen again.

Well, wonderful. I’d at last, for real, finally made it to the actual game. I could see my characters ready to play.

If I lost you through all of the above, then you feel pretty much like I did. It took me about 45 minutes to get into the actual game, through numerous downloads and updates and restarts. I typed this post as it was happening. If I hadn’t been typing this as it happened, I’d have no idea how many times the game downloaded and updated—and even having typed it all, I have to go back and read and count to figure it out.

Geez. I’ve kind of forgotten what I was getting back into this game for, now.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Today has been a bad day. Stressful, aggravating, and tiring. I would normally write my daily post right now, but I need to kill some stuff for a couple hours.

* * *

OK, it’s been almost three hours of run, shoot, kill, blow stuff up, run some more. I played F.E.A.R., a first-person shooter computer game with a horror/mystery story. I didn’t pick this game for the horror theme, but rather for the gunfire effects — smoke, damage to property, damage to enemies, etc. I needed some blood and explosions to purge the stress from my system.

You see, computer games don’t make people perform violence; computer games help people keep from performing violence.

Yes, I’m being facetious, here. Mostly. Virtual violence and destruction can improve a guy’s mental state. Guys like watching gun battles and explosions. And the only thing better than watching them is participating in them (from the protective cover of a computer screen).

In most shoot-’em-up computer games, the victims of your violence are bad guys: vicious monsters, sinister aliens, evil demons, and nazis. Occasionally the bad guys are not so much evil as just opposing you: mercenaries who will kill you without question if you don’t kill them first, soldiers who will kill you because it’s their duty. So you can play the game and shoot anything and everything without remorse.

Even if the targets of your guns are not bad, they are just computer images. The only people who get confused between reality and a computer image are the types who get confused between reality and a movie image. Or between reality and the messages in a Beatles album.

Anyway. I killed bad guys and blew up bad things and generally got the stress out of my system. I can go to bed, get a good night’s sleep, and be a regular husband, dad, and citizen in the morning. I’m only a crazed killer and mad demolitionist in the occasional evening. And I try to finish up by midnight.

Bullgrit

I canceled my WoW account. I’ve gotten pretty busy lately and just haven’t played in several weeks.

Fortunately, WoW keeps character information safe when you cancel your account, so if I get the time to play again, I can reopen the account and continue where I left off (level 68).

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

My friends and I were talking about using mules in WoW. One of my friends has never used one.

In the Outlands, you almost must have a mule. It saves a lot of time having to go back and forth for the bank and Auction House. My mule scans the AH daily, and then receives loot from my main to sell on the AH. She can store stuff in the bank, too. Probably saves me 20 minutes of travel time each time I play. Let’s my main stay close to the action areas.

Last night, I was on with my mule (now level 10) and had a guy ask me to sign his guild charter. Said he’d give me 1 gold to do it. I was curious if he would actually give me a gold, so I said yes.

He and his friend came to me and I signed the charter. A moment later, he opened a trade window and put in a gold. Honesty! Great. I didn’t take the gold and told him to keep it.

He said, “Umm, okay.”

I said, “I’m a mule, and I’ve already got 680 gold on me. I don’t need it.”

He said, “?? How did you get so much gold?”

I had to log off right after he asked that, so I didn’t get to answer. I didn’t notice what level he and his friend was. I imagine he’s probably telling people I he found a gold buyer.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com